CHELMSFORD - Classroom temperatures rose to the forefront over the last couple weeks as school and town officials ramped up their response to cold and hot extremes.

Since $19 million in energy-performance enhancements were made in the schools three years ago, staff and students have lived with a surprising, unintended consequence: newfound compliance with regulations that require fresh air to cycle through the buildings had the effect of lowering some classroom temperatures to sometimes uncomfortable levels, officials surmise.

They're working to refine the controls in these rooms so the air enters at a warmer temperature.

"Our goal is to make sure the discharge air temperature is not below 65 degrees in these uni-vents to provide comfort to the occupants," said Facilities Manager Kathleen Canavan.

Town Manager Paul Cohen committed to funding an independent analysis of the heating system at the two most problematic schools, Byam Elementary and Parker Middle, to determine the exact issues and remedies. But staff were dissatisfied with the town's overall response, and worried that answers would not come until winter was almost over.

They reported students wearing coats and gloves and temperatures dipping below 40 degrees in some instances. At a contentious Board of Selectmen meeting Dec.
5, teachers' union President Jennifer Salmon demanded a resolution.

On Wednesday, she said she felt optimistic things are moving in the right direction. Salmon and School Committee member Barbara Skaar spent the day visiting schools and taking classrooms temperatures.

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While they found some rooms at Byam Elementary School to be too cold and some at Chelmsford High School to be too hot, Salmon said she was "pleasantly surprised" with the overall results.

"The heating improvements are absolutely incredible," Salmon said.
Superintendent of Schools Jay Lang said the teachers' concerns are legitimate and that officials are committed to working together to create an optimal learning environment for students.

Over the last two weeks, Cohen Energy Manager Christopher Illsley made unannounced walkthroughs of rooms with known problems and chose rooms at random to verify temperatures recorded by thermostats on the computerized control system.

The Sun joined Cohen, Illsley and Canavan Wednesday for a walkthrough of Center Elementary School. The group visited several classrooms , some of the town employees' choosing and some chosen at random by a reporter. In each room, manual temperature readings were 66 to 72 degrees Fahrenheit and varied at most by two degrees from room thermostats. Cohen said other schools had similar findings.

During the visit, lead building custodian Stephen Seidl was alerted to a first-floor girls' bathroom overheated to 87 degrees. Seidl determined it was a mechanical issue and said he'd schedule contractor Johnson Controls to fix it the next day.

Most staff and students a reporter encountered were not wearing coats or gloves. In one room, a male teacher was wearing shorts and a female paraprofessional was wearing a winter coat. Cohen said he'd seen similar examples among students at the high school.

"Everyone has different different comfort levels and thresholds," she said.

Skaar said a handful of classrooms at each school still had fresh air blowing in at cold temperatures Wednesday, but she's encouraged by the town response thus far.

"We've moved closer to a solution. The buildings are warmer," she said. "We're now down to identifying classrooms that have issues and fixing them."

Cohen said it's less of a widespread systemic issue and more of the normal problems that are bound to pop up in complicated mechanical systems, such as stuck valves or failing fan motors.

Part of the problem in previous years was the lack of both a specific process for reporting heating concerns within the buildings and follow-up on those complaints and their resolutions. Lang said replacing the outsourced Aramark custodians with in-district employees has greatly contributed to turning that around.

Over the summer, town officials met with the teachers' union to establish a reporting procedure that relies heavily on those custodians. Work orders are also tracked through a program called SchoolDude.

School Committee member John Moses said he trusts Cohen's long history of supporting the schools.

"The teachers' union and parents have genuine concerns about the school heating and cooling, and I believe that the town manager is taking the steps needed to address the concerns," he said. "It's time to let the evaluation proceed and solve the problem."

Canavan and Department of Public Works Director Gary Persichetti will report on the school heating systems and the town's response at the selectmen meeting at 7 p.m. Monday.

Follow Alana Melanson at facebook.com/alana.lowellsun or on Twitter and Tout @alanamelanson.

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